Pilot Light Sensors – Mercury containing switches are found in some gas appliances such as stoves, ovens, clothes dryers, water heaters, furnaces and space heaters

Items containing Mercury – Gauges, thermometers, thermostats and switches Non-Empty aerosol cans that contain hazardous materials – cans that are labeled with TOXIC or FLAMMABLE that are not completely empty

Paint

Paint may not be placed out for curbside collection or disposed of in a bin/container meant for solid waste. FREE paint recycling is available at drop-off sites throughout California. Most of these sites are at paint retailers (paint, hardware, and home improvement stores) that have volunteered to take back paint, and they are available to any resident and business in California. These stores accept paint whenever they are open for business. Below is a link where you can find a drop-off site near you and view hours and restrictions.

EDCO Now Recycles Cooking Oil!

Don't pour it down the drain, in the yard, or in your trash. Bring it to one of EDCO's Buyback Centers and we'll make sure it is reused. EDCO has established a Fats, Oils, and Grease, (FOG) collection program. With your help working together we can keep fats, oils, and grease (FOG) out of the drain and the ground and establish a reuse for it. It's a free service and you'll feel a whole lot greener. EDCO will ship the collected FOG to a refining facility where it will be processed into biodiesel. Note: Please don't mix this product with any other oils such as motor oil or gear oil.

Simply collected your used discarded FOG in a leak proof container and when the container is full drop it off at any of our 6 buyback centers.

Free E-Waste Drop Off Locations

EDCO is excited to announce that residents now have a convenient place to drop off electronic waste free of charge. Proper disposal of electronic waste (e-waste) is becoming a major environmental concern. Computer monitors, hard drives/CPUs, scanners, keyboards, televisions, VCRs, radios, printers, fax machines, etc., all contain significant levels of lead that should not be put into the regular trash stream. You can drop off your e-waste free of charge at an EDCO Facility near you. (during operating hours only) – click here for locations.

Items Accepted Include:

Computer and Television Monitors

Central Processing Units (CPUs)

Laptop Computers

Miscellaneous Computer Components

Printers and Scanners

Fax Machines

VCRs

Radios

Cell Phones

Residential Customers Can Recycle your Household Batteries at EDCO

Did you know that Americans purchase nearly 3 billion dry-cell batteries every year to power radios, toys, cellular phones, watches, laptop computers, and portable power tools? Dry-cell batteries include alkaline and carbon zinc (9-volt, D, C, AA, AAA), mercuric-oxide (button, some cylindrical and rectangular), silver-oxide and zinc-air (button), and lithium (9-volt, C, AA, coin, button). On average, each person in the United States discards eight dry-cell batteries per year.

Batteries contain heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and nickel, which can contaminate the environment when batteries are improperly disposed of. When incinerated, certain metals might be released into the air or can concentrate in the ash produced by the combustion process. Recycling batteries keeps heavy metals out of landfills and the air. Recycling also saves resources because recovered plastic and metals can be used to make new batteries.

One way to reduce the number of batteries in the waste stream is to purchase rechargeable batteries. Nearly one in five dry-cell batteries purchased in the United States is rechargeable. Over its useful life, each rechargeable battery may substitute for hundreds of single-use batteries.

Residential Customers Can Now Dispose of Your Home-Generated Sharps at EDCO

New State Regulations

In September 2008, State law (Section 118286 of the California Health and Safety Code) made it illegal to dispose of sharps waste in the trash or recycling containers, and required that all sharps waste be transported to a collection center in an approved sharps container.

Section 117671 of the California Health and Safety Code defines "home-generated sharps waste" as hypodermic needles, pen needles, intravenous needles, lancets, and other devices that are used to penetrate the skin for the delivery of medications derived from a household, including a multifamily residence or household.

In addition to prohibiting the disposal of sharps waste in the trash, the Medical Waste Management Act requires home-generated sharps to be placed in approved containers for transport and disposal. Users should store the sharps waste in red bio-hazardous containers for easy identification or other approved containers.

Bio-hazard containers are available for purchase by consumers. Additionally, some jurisdictions have containers available at no cost. Information can be found at county health websites.

Bio-hazard containers can be disposed of in one of four ways:

Taken to a local household hazardous waste facility;

Taken to a medical waste generator facility (hospitals, clinics, or doctors' offices);